


At the End

by Gypsymoon77



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Family, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-08
Packaged: 2018-02-24 13:06:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2582456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gypsymoon77/pseuds/Gypsymoon77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean has been cured, but he may be too late to say goodbye to a dying Castiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At the End

**Author's Note:**

> Starting writing this before Episode 3 of Season 10 and decided to go ahead and finish it since I was feeling angsty the other day.

Dean dragged the chair up next to the bed, the grating sound of the legs scraping across the concrete floor aggravating his headache. He had had a headache ever since the cure. It had been piercing at first but had finally tapered off to a dull, persistent ache. Now he was back in his old room at the bunker, all of his belongings in their place. Sammy had practically left it as a shrine to the older brother he had been so desperate to save.

Dean tiredly lowered himself into the chair. Fatigue seemed to be another side effect of the cure. His body ached as if he had the flu. Or maybe now that he had been something other, he could feel just how human he was.

“Human,” he muttered, his voice tinged with equal parts relief and disgust. “Hear that, Cas? I'm human again. It worked. Sammy saved me.”

Castiel didn't respond. He had slipped into unconsciousness the day before Dean had been healed. Now he lay unmoving in Dean's bed, looking deceptively peaceful, as if he had just dozed off for a nap while waiting for Dean to get back from a hunt. Only angels didn't sleep.

Dean swallowed hard, denying the tears that blurred his vision and threatened to spill out past all the self-imposed defenses and barriers. He would not cry, dammit.

“You know we're going to fix you, right?” he stated, embarrassed by how his voice shook with emotion. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Sammy's in the library right now. I swear, the kid has read half of the books in there. I noticed he's starting to squint when he's reading. So you got to stick around so you can help me tease him once he gets glasses.”

Dean let out a laugh, but it was a harsh, bitter noise. He felt as if he were choking on his forced cheerfulness. He hesitated and then reached out and picked up Castiel's hand, holding it tightly in both of his.

“Are you listening to me, Cas? You can't leave me here. I meant what I said back then. _I need you_. Especially....” Dean left off, and leaned his forehead down against his hands. He couldn't hold it back any more; the tears were running freely down his cheeks. “I need to be able to tell you that I'm sorry for what I did – for what I was.”

Dean took in a shaky breath to steady himself.

“So, you have no choice. You gotta get better. You gotta wake up. Or I'll be royally pissed off at you, you hear me?”

“Dean?”

For a moment, Dean's heart jumped with a flood of hope at hearing his name, but in the same instant, he recognized the speaker. It wasn't Cas. He warily lifted his head and turned to the door where Sam was hovering uncertainly. A look of intense sadness was on his younger brother's face and Dean wondered just how long Sam had been standing there listening.

“What is it, Sammy?” Dean asked. He didn't bother to wipe away his tears or to drop Castiel's hand. He was too tired to be embarrassed by his emotional display.

Sam shifted from foot to foot in a bouncy sort of way that instantly had Dean sitting up straighter. He knew his brother's body language and that shuffle meant that he had turned up something in his research. The younger man hesitantly stepped forward, holding out a musty book with yellowed pages. “I think I may have found something. It's probably a long shot but....”

Dean was already standing. He gave Castiel's hand a squeeze and laid it down by the angel's side. A look of cold determination darkened his eyes. The same look was mirrored in his brother's eyes.

“We'll be back, Cas. Hang in there, buddy.”

He followed Sam down the hall, only half listening as his brother eagerly explained the intricacies of the spell he had found. Dean was going to save Castiel, even if he had to move heaven and hell to do it.

 


End file.
